President sacks health minister over death of 11 babies in hospital fire accident  

President Macky Sall Senegal has sacked the Minister of Health over the death of 11 newborn babies in a fire accident at a hospital in the country. The fire accident that occurred late Wednesday at the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in the western city of Tivaouane was attributed to electrical short circuit.

President Sall had on Twitter decried the hospital fire incident, declaring three days of national mourning.

The President on Twitter stated: “I have just learned with pain and dismay about the deaths of 11 newborn babies in the fire at the neonatal department of the public hospital.

“To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy.”

The Mayor Tivaouane city, Demba Diop, had said that the fire was caused by a short circuit and spread very quickly. The Mator refuted claims by relations of the victims and across social media that the babies were left alone; he asserted that a midwife and nurse were on duty on Wednesday evening when the fire outbreak occurred.

According to the Mayor, “There was a noise and an explosion that lasted three minutes at most…

“Five minutes after, the fire brigade arrived. People used fire extinguishers.”

He added that the air-conditioning intensified the inferno, saying the two nurses in duty fainted but were revived.

The Mayor maintained that “There was no negligence.”

The Health Minister, Abdoudaye Diouf Sarr, was in Geneva when the fire accident occurred.

The President announced that he would replace Sarr with Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, the director-general of the public health authority.